Rob Ford returns to the debate circuit following rehab

Rob Ford's first post-rehab debate saw the incumbent mayor return to his most popular (and contentious) talking points: subways, tax dollars, and spending, though this time it appeared his opponents were prepared for the script.

On transportation, Ford tried to position himself as the "transit mayor," saying that he had "built" the Scarborough subway (never mind that it's some way from actually being an active construction project) while David Soknacki tried to convince the crowd the fully-funded LRT was still the best option for the area. "It's not a fantasy plan," he said. "It's completely paid for, ladies and gentlemen."

John Tory jumped at Ford's pledge to watch every tax dollar, criticizing the mayor for being at the helm during budget overruns at Union Station and Nathan Phillips Square renovations. Karen Stintz, a Scarborough subway advocate like Tory, focused on traffic congestion.

Ford also declared himself the "king" of helping residents of Toronto Community Housing. In the past, the mayor has toured TCHC buildings. Ford was a supporter of ousted community housing CEO Eugene Jones.

The debate was held in a happy hunting ground for Ford, a Pentecostal church in Scarborough. The audience cheered the mayor's name at several points during the proceedings and laughed when he said he would have another "crack" at killing the land transfer tax. Outside, prior to the start of the event, Ford supporters and protestors argued heatedly.

Do some research before you spew. This region still accounts for a significant portion of the country's GDP - far more than any other city (and most provinces) in the country, so the engine analogy still holds.

While its true that the economies out west are growing at a faster rate, they're starting from a much, much smaller base - don't forget that Ontario has more people than Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan combined, and the GTA alone is bigger than Alberta and Saskatchewan combined. Our economy drawfs those out west by a significant amount, despite the rhetoric.

For all the talk of the Oil Sands, which is the primary basis for Alberta's current prosperity, it's still barely 2% of Canada's GDP. Toronto on the other hand, is around 10-11% - so yeah, this region is still very much the engine, as much as our friends out west (and the current federal government)would like to believe otherwise.

Ontario's hurting, but that pain is mostly being felt in Southwestern Ontario and in the North, or in any region that has been dependent on manufacturing - something which hasn't been relevant to Toronto's economy for years.

Rob Ford is a bad speaker but good communicator he still gets his points across and stayed on message the whole debate.

Olivia Chow is sub par and not good at debates at all. She stumbles and fumbles her way though it, constantly diverts the questions addressed at her from the other candidates. She did have a strong prepared opening statement but lost it as soon as the actual live debate started.

astreal, you're incorrect (and what seems to be one of the most significant election issues). Chow wants to build LRTs for linking Scarborough. I call into question the depth of your research that you undertake before commenting.

Mayor McCokehoover replying to a comment from Um / July 16, 2014 at 12:18 pm

No ire, Um (and no harm/no foul). It's just that if there is any silver lining to this whole Ford debacle, it's that it has woken up a lot of people who were taking politics/democracy for granted (myself included).

Now that we've had our version of George W. somehow slipping into office and making a mockery of things, I think people aren't going to be so complacent when the campaigns swing into high gear and let fly their armies of trolls and shills to gum up the works.

Say what you will about the Ontario election, but I think it was instructive: people give a shit again. Let's do the same with the October municipal election, and then let's knock some heads next year in the federal one, too.

Tory tore Chow to shreds by describing her time in politics as time spent doing nothing but dividing and stalling. I think he realizes the only way he's going to win is by attracting centrists from Chow, because Ford is almost guaranteed 30% of the vote so long as he isn't arrested before the election.

More disturbing than each incumbants debate was the gathering of Tamil Elam (Tamil Tigers) leaders standing next to Doug Ford in the pulpit at last nights debate. Is Rob Ford funding Tamil Tigers? Do Rob Fords supporters last night realize Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization? Perhaps Tamil Tigers are funding Rob Fords campaign? Canada should not tolerate terrorists mixing into local Toronto politics. Someone has to write about the Tamil Tigers and Rob/Doug Ford connection.

More disturbing than each incumbants debate was the gathering of Tamil Elam (Tamil Tigers) leaders standing next to Doug Ford in the pulpit at last nights debate. Is Rob Ford funding Tamil Tigers? Do Rob Fords supporters last night realize Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization? Perhaps Tamil Tigers are funding Rob Fords campaign? Canada should not tolerate terrorists mixing into local Toronto politics. Someone has to write about the Tamil Tigers and Rob/Doug Ford connection.

This was a terrible debate. The whole thing felt amateurish and like siblings bickering with each other.
Chow: couldn't get a single thought out without dumping on Rob Ford. Without him to heckle, she has almost nothing.
Ford: couldn't stop lying to save his life. He said nothing of any substance all night, only relying on his past (falsified) accomplishments and rhetoric.
Soknacki: has nowhere near enough stage presence to be mayor or hold his own in a debate. That said, he made some decent points. He lacks confidence and authority.
Stintz: It was like she was in a pageant. She is her own cheerleader with no real substance herself. Her whole, "who do you trust?" thing was a major catastrophe.
Tory: The only one who stayed on point. He is well spoken and trustworthy. The only one with the authority and capability to be our mayor, if you ask me.

A Soknacki win would indeed be awesome. He seems to be the one with ideas instead of simple talking points. Who cares if he's not charismatic - none of the others are especially commanding, either. I feel sorry for Stinz; she came off as a shrieky school girl.

As for the Canadian Tamil Congress being a front, well, they successfully sued the last person who suggested that

Chow was flailing badly, and her grammar was surprisingly poor. She should not have stood on that suitcase behind the podium, it added to the disingenuous impression she made. She should quiet down about respectability and drug use, given her own history of marijuana use and her husband's incident at the rub 'n tug.

Ford did not offer anything new, but he had some real zingers against Chow. He seems to have lost a bit of his goove post-rehab.

Socknacki was like a dead fish and could not not stimulate any reaction from the audience. His ambition for the city is weak. His association with Miller is a dealbreaker for me.

Stintz actually seemed like she could really appeal to younger voters. I was surprised by this. She expresses the most vision for Toronto and has optimism that the other candidates lack. However she is a flip-flopper on transit issues.

Tory was a good speaker, but perhaps too slick to appeal to the average voter. Plus, for me, his history of backing funding for all faith-based schools (say, like the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!) is a deal-breaker. How could anyone think that was a good idea for longer than 5 seconds!

-Ontarians hold approximately 44% of all financial wealth in Canada ($1.3 trillion and Ontario is home to 37 of the top 100 employer pension funds in Canada.In aggregate, Ontarians hold 52.6% of pension fund assets nationally.

-75% of the total volume (189.2 billion shares) and 98% of the total value ($2.3 trillion) traded on Canadian equity marketplaces was traded on an Ontario-based marketplace. Volume traded in Ontario continues to show strong growth, up 11% in 2011 from the previous year.

-Toronto ranks tenth globally as a financial centre, and the TSX is the eighth largest equity exchange in the world by market capitalization, at $1.9 trillion. More than 350,000 people are employed in the financial services sector in Ontario, accounting for 47% of financial services employment nationally.

For a second I actually thought you were serious. I'm not sure if that's a reflection of my irony detector not working, or the universal stupidity of Fraud... Fuck... RoFo voters (sorry I cannot bring myself to type a last name that starts with F that's four letters long.)

"I'm sensing a hot-diggity-doggity-Robbity-bobbity seismic shift in the race now that Rob is back from the greatest rehab stint ever undertaken by a mayor!! He hit the ground running and he's ready to rumble,..."

Anyway thanks for the laugh, the thought that this imbecile is polling above single digits, well I need a laugh right now.

You're speaking to wealth while I'm speaking to debt, two very different things which you may be aware.

As of September 30, 2013 the Ontario government's total debt stood at CDN$288.10 billion. The interest on the debt was CDN$10.3 billion for the 2012-2013 Ontario budget at an effective interest rate of 4%. It represented 8.4% of the total budgetary expenses and is the fastest-rising cost for the Ontario government. The Debt-to-GDP ratio in 2013 was 37.4%, the highest in Ontario's history.

Ontario's credit rating has been downgraded due to its debt, thus increasing the borrowing costs even further.

While Ontario accounts for just under 40 per cent of the country’s population, it accounts for almost 50 per cent of provincial net debt.

I would like to ask Davy Gravy et al to stop posting funny (I peed my big girl panties!) but mean comments about my Irwin. My boy has a crush on Mr. Ford and is president of MBARF*, so he mindlessly supports Mayor Useless. Please be kind to Irwin and his cement-filled colon!

Could not agree more. every debate I lose more respect for Chow; who up until last night I really wanted to vote. Both Tory and Chow seem to want to make this election about Ford. The last election was about Ford and he won. Not saying he stands a chance this time but can we please make this election about Toronto and not Ford? Soknacki has been the best candidate from go but because he doesn't scream like the rest of the babies he is sadly drowned out. at this point I think Tory has it. I'm really hoping Soknacki picks up momentum over whats left of the summer as he makes the most sense by far and is the only one of the candidates that is a centrist which is what this polarized city desperately needs

You are incorrect that I'm speaking about wealth only. I'm speaking about Ontario's economic power relative to the rest of Canada. You and others have asserted that Toronto/Ontario is no longer the economic engine of Canada, which is absolutely false.

I'm not trying to argue that a Liberal government is good for the province, nor am I arguing that Ontario's debt isn't a major concern (it absolutely, urgently is). What I AM saying, though, is that Ontario - particularly the GTA - is the economic engine that drives the Canadian economy. Without that engine, Canada would not even fit into the G20.

This is actually the dumbest thing I've read all day. These are actual facts (I can back them up) that paint a fairly clear picture: that Ontario and the GTA are the financial heart of the Canadian economy. There is plenty of negative news: the downgrading of our credit rating (as alluded to earlier), mass layoffs in the manufacturing industry, etc.

But the song remains the same: Ontario and the GTA are the economic engine of Canada (no thanks to idiots like Rob Ford).

Yes all campaigns have ramped-up. Funny how showing support is called astroturfing, but jump up and down in Rob Fords face with your shirt off and your a hero. Let me support Tory. Thank you very much.

Mayor Ford was the clear winner last night. He kept calm while being personally attacked about his private life. I have even less respect for Olivia Chow after yesterday. Hey Mr. Blogto troller/employee, did you see all the supporters of Mr. Ford who came out? The support will get even stronger! Get ready for Ford more years!

As much as I've enjoyed reading about the debate and going through the different comments here, it just didn't feel right without your phantasmagorical, possibly drug-induced fantasy version of how it all went down. Now the day is truly complete.

I can only hope tory wins, so I don't have to see Ford spewing garbage out of his pie hole and Chow runs for the Fed NDP and beats Adam Vaughan in my riding. I don't like Chow but not nearly as much as I don't like that big liar Adam Vaughan. Thanks again for ruining Alexandra park again Adam!!!

Irwin! Are you still extremely constipated ? Drat that cement dust! Can Mr. Ford help unplug you again? He did return your phone call that once. Now, I know the cement dust makes you hallucinate but Mr. Ford has better things to do than be mayor. Irwin, Mr. Ford and I have something to tell you...about your ancestry. So come upstairs...it'll be a big surprise!

Olivia needs to decide what she's going to do for her future (well maybe not she's getting her own pension and Jacks) but either way. Tory has had his talk radio show for the past 5 years which has kept him on the pulse of the city and the radio station would surely have him back. Rob has enough in the bank and could work at Decco labels if needed.

Olivia has been out of touch with the actual pulse of the city for a long time which is why she has to keep referring back to immigrating here in 1970. All respect to that but alot has changed since the 70's which is your main talking point about why your relevant. What's she gonna do back out? Run for council? Run in the federal election? She's a career politician where can she go?

WOW how many more of these debates do we have?
Chow needs to go to toastmasters or some public speaking classes asap before the next one.
But wait, Karen Stintz spent $4,500 of her councillors office budget on voice lessons back in 2009, and didn't seem to help her either. Damn is there any hope left for Chow?

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